Portal to keep track of all govt projects in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone: Ernest Koroma, President of Sierra Leone, launched Transparency-International (T-SL) website. It aims to capture all government projects (geotagged via GPS) in prose and still/video photographs including an interactive internet forum through which citizens can ask questions to the President and his cabinet and they can respond through a blog.Moreover, the country will be the first one in West Africa region which will be using Google Earth to updates its citizens about government projects. President Koroma said that the T-SL manifests “innovative solutions borne of open collaboration and dialogue.” He added that T-SL presents “an opportunity for innovative ideas to be shared that would otherwise be lost and buried in the graveyards of genuine Sierra Leonean minds.”A representative from the London-based Commonwealth Office stressed that T-SL will make government more responsive to the needs of the people they govern, facilitating “constructive criticism”. She however warned that government should “not be deceived” for the new initiative would put “a lot of pressure on government” and government officials should be compelled “to work harder”.The Chief of Staff in the President’s Office, Dr. Kelfala Marrah, said the T-SL portal would not be for “political debate” but would try to focus on “national issues.” Source: allafrica.com